RI, MA EHS Pest Control Blog

Bed bugs found in Hospital for Children

Bed bugs were discovered this weekend at Riley Hospital for Children, an Indiana University Health official said this morning.

"Bed bugs continue to be an issue nationwide," said IU Health spokeswoman Abby Gras in an email. "To ensure the safety of our patients and families, we work closely with our infection control and environmental services departments to ensure the incident is isolated and dealt with in a timely manner."

A family staying at the hospital with a newborn daughter shared photos of the bedbugs and an email with WXIN (Channel 59). WXIN did not name the family in its reports, and the hospital has not named the family in responding to them.

Bed bugs are small, oval, brownish insects that live on the blood of animals or humans, according to the WebMD.com. Adult bedbugs have flat bodies about the size of an apple seed. After feeding, their bodies swell and turn a reddish color.

Although their bites cause redness and itching, the insects do not transmit diseases, according to the medical information website.

Bed bugs can be inadvertently brought home in luggage and other items after motel or hospital stays. They often hide in mattresses, box springs, bedframes and headboards. They are active mostly at night.

Cleanliness and hygiene, experts say, have no connection to incidence of bed bugs. A single stowaway ready to lay eggs can lead to an infestation in a clean and well-kept environment.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

School Officials Say Bedbugs at School a Hoax

Augusta Independent School Principal Robin Kelsch had enough to worry about with the flu. Kelsch didn't need a student's report of bedbugs at the school to make things worse.

But, that's what he got.

Kelsch told The Ledger Independent that the report turned out to be a hoax, but school office phones were ringing with concerned parents on the other end (http://bit.ly/y6sYQw).

Kelsch said the rumor started when a student brought in a water bug and squashed it, then told her friends it was a bedbug "just to scare them."

Kelsch said officials checked the school, then bleached and cleaned it and found "absolutely no" bedbugs.

As far as can be determined, Kelsch said, no one used the bedbug rumor as an excuse to skip school.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Bed Bug Infestation Closes Salvation Army Shelter

A bed bug infestation has forced a Salvation Army shelter in Orlando to temporarily close. The Salvation Army announced Thursday that the men's shelter could be closed for up to a week.

The Orlando Sentinel reports officials are scrambling to find accommodations for up to 75 homeless men - just as the temperatures are expected to dip into the 30s. Another 50 men who are enrolled in the agency's long-term transitional program will be housed in a gym on the shelter's property.

Officials say it will cost about $15,000 to tent the building for treatment of bed bugs.

Spokeswoman Vicki Hastings says the Salvation Army hopes the public will help cover the costs.

Bed bugs bites can lead to severe itching and skin infections.

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA 

Bob’s Discount Furniture Gets Bitten by Bedbug Ruling

Bob’s Discount Furniture could be on the hook for allegedly selling a bedbug-infested bedroom set.

A customer brought suit against the retailer after an exterminator found bedbugs harboring in the frame of the customer’s daughter’s bed.

A federal judge ruled in favor of Bob’s, but the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered a remand, finding that the judge had erred by preventing the exterminator from testifying as an expert witness.

“This opinion evidence, coupled with evidence that the defendant had no written policy regarding the prevention of bedbugs and that it used the same trucks for both delivering new furniture and retrieving used furniture, is sufficient to support a conclusion that the defendant delivered bedbugs along with the bedroom set,” Judge Bruce M. Selya wrote for the 1st Circuit.

The 21-page decision is Downey, et al. v. Bob’s Discount Furniture Holdings, Inc., Lawyers Weekly No. 01-010-11.

SOURCE = The Docket (Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly)

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Waldorf Astoria is Haven for Bedbugs! Md. Tourist Third to Sue Famed Hotel for Bloodsucker 'Attack'

A Maryland woman is suing the Waldorf Astoria for $10 million because, she says, she awoke at the fancy hotel and found bedbugs all over her body.

Svetlana Tendler is the third tourist since last year to sue the famed Park Ave. hotel over a nasty encounter with the tiny bloodsuckers.

"I felt like I was eaten alive by bedbugs, which have attacked my body," she said.

Tendler, her husband, Jacob, and their two kids stayed at the hotel in August 2007, the suit says.

One morning, she awoke to a nasty bedbug attack.

Photographs released by her lawyer, Anna Carley, show bites on Tendler's arms and legs.

"The defendants did nothing to assist plaintiff, Svetlana Tendler, in treatment of ... bed bites or fumigation of [her] luggage," says the suit, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court.

Tendler, of Owings Mill, Md., initially filed a summons against the hotel in August.

She filed a new, detailed complaint this week.

A Michigan woman who says bedbugs attacked her during a family vacation sued the hotel in November.

The hotel also was sued in October by a woman whose 6-year-old daughter said she was victimized by bedbugs during a visit last February.

Hilton Worldwide, which owns the Waldorf Astoria, declined to comment.

Source = NY Daily News

George Williams,
General Manager - Staff Entomologist

Pest Control, RI, Pest Control, MA

Bedbugs Discovered in Two University of Pittsburgh Dorms

Pittsburgh Post - Gazette

The University of Pittsburgh said today it found evidence of bedbugs in two campus dorms -- Sutherland and Lothrop halls -- and has treated the affected areas.

Reports of bugs were verified through visible inspection in three rooms, Pitt said. Two are located in Sutherland, and one in Lothrop.

A university statement said that because two of the rooms were on the same floor of Sutherland East, the rest of the rooms on the floor and ultimately all of Sutherland East were inspected.

As a result, 28 more rooms were deemed to have bugs, "although most of these showed no visible signs of bugs," said the statement released by Pitt spokesman John Fedele.

Pitt said follow-up treatments to affected areas will be given as a precaution.